A woman was seriously injured at the Dierks Bentley show Sunday Night (11-16) in Utica, New York when a piece of falling metal from the ceiling of the Utica Memorial Auditorium impaled her in the leg. Emergency crews stationed at the auditorium (known affectionately by locals as “The AUD”) had to extricate the woman from the crowd on a stretcher as concerned concertgoers looked on. The woman’s injury is being called “significant.”

Utica Fire Chief Russell Brooks told News Channel 2 that the piece of metal was a tie rod that had been used to mount an old light to the ceiling of the auditorium. The light was removed, but the tie rod was left dangling, eventually falling and injuring the woman. She was transported to a local hospital via ambulance.

This is the second strange incident at a Dierks Bentley concert in the last week. On November 13th, a woman puked on stage when Dierks brought her and her friends up for a singalong of his hit “Drunk On A Plane.” Dierks told Country 92.5’s Electric Barnyard that he brought the woman and her friends up on stage because they were dressed as flight attendants. But apparently Dierks wasn’t fazed by the incident, he actually enjoyed it. “I’ve seen people throw up in the crowd. I’ve seen fights, I’ve seen blood. It was pretty awesome to be honest. I’m always looking for something like cool about every night. So for that to happen was pretty epic. I’d love for that to maybe happen again,” Dierks said.

Some have disputed the irony of the situation, saying that the woman was not drunk, but suffering from stage fright, but Dierks says, “There was a picture of her on Twitter world of her with a drink in her hand, so I don’t know.”

28 Comments

He’s always looking for something cool? Puking, fights, severe injuries, those things are cool? Just being able to sing your songs on a stage in front of Lord knows how many people and getting paid for it isn’t cool enough for you, Dierks?

God, please send me back to the 90s, when Garth Brooks was country music’s biggest problem, and America’s biggest controversy was the President getting a BJ…

I’m not trying to connect the woman’s injury to Dierks whatsoever, and certainly not trying to say he’s to blame. It happened at one of Dierks’ shows, and that is why it is relevant to report on a country music website.

Yeah I know you weren’t trying to blame him but it just comes across as trying to connect this incident with the puking by putting both in the header. Just by the headline I half expected some drunk ass guy running through the crowd with a spear or something.

The only way these two incidents are related is because they involve Dierks Bentley concerts. I could have written two separate articles, one as an update about the vomiting incident with Dierks’ quotes, and another about the injured lady. But this seemed even more gratuitous and potentially sensational. So I smashed these two small stories together so it didn’t appear I was piling on Dierks. Nowhere did I say or imply that either of these two incidents were Dierks’ fault in any way. Dierks has done nothing wrong here. But both incidents were newsworthy, and something that apparently people found very interesting judging by the amount of people who have read them. I have no beef with Dierks Bentley.

Ah, that make sense. I meant no disrespect towards it, but it just looked very old school. I’m in the suburbs of Philadelphia so I guess I’ve gotten used to seeing all the glitzy, high-tech, big market news productions from the city.

OK, I’ll admit it. Watching people puke is nowhere on my “awesome” list of things and it isn’t something I need to see again.

I don’t care how good Riser is, Dierks really isn’t that much different from Jason Aldean (his tour mate) and the others in terms of preaching the get drunk and party at a concert mentality.

Personally I spend my concert money on actually listening to the music. It’s a lot cheaper to get drunk at home if that is the goal. Of course most of the bro-country music is crap so why not get drunk.

I personally think he’s trying to keep the poor woman from feeling any more embarrassment. If he comes out and says, “Yeah, it sucked that I got hurled on,” it just amplifies how shitty she feels about the situation. It was an awkward quote–sounds to me like he was just trying not to embarrass her further.

As for the impaling incident. People make mistakes but how in god’s name do you not secure that piece or remove it? Jesus Christ. Doesn’t common sense tell you that if you working on something in the ceiling, you should make damn sure that it can’t fall? My goodness.

I once had a framing board falling perpendicular to the ground from two stories up fall on my toe. Worst pain I’ve ever been in in my life. A piece of metal falling from that high up is like getting shot with a bullet the size of a carriage bolt. Someone should be held accountable.

Oh, they will be. If this woman and he family are smart they’re going to sue the living shit out of the Aud, and they’ll win because of the ridiculous nature of the incident and that idea that somebody at that facility was careless enough to leave something loose in the ceiling.

That, or somebody they hired to work on the lights was that careless. One way or the other, somebody’s carelessness is likely to lose them their livelihood. Considering that this woman or another concert-goer could have died because of this, I’m perfectly OK with that. You fuck up that badly and it should have a major impact on your life.

I’ve never been a fan of your articles that bash people getting drunk and partying at country concerts. Simply because alcohol and drugs have always been a part of country music and you of all people should realize that instead of trying to pretend that the new era of singers are morally inferior to the old guard. This article just brings it to a whole other level though. This has nothing to do with music at all much less Dierks Bentley. It really seems like you’re just trying to get more clicks and needlessly drag someones name through the mud.

NOWHERE did I attempt to pin this incident on Dierks Bentley personally, or imply that somehow he is responsible. This is a wild-eyed assumption being made by certain readers. Someone got severely injured at a country music concert in an unusual and dangerous scenario. Multiple websites and news outlets, including other country music outlets, have run stories on this incident because it is relevant and newsworthy. It is implicit on media outlets to help ensure the safety of the public and the conveyance of information.

If you have ever been to the Utica Memorial Auditorium, you’d understand what a relic that gross and ill-utilized building is. It is a shame what has happened to it. Another one of those Upstate venues that rarely gets big names or anything at all. To have Dierks touring there was quite a surprise in the first place.